


serendipity

by cr7



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Kinda, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Real Madrid CF, Slow Burn, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-27 16:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13252041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cr7/pseuds/cr7
Summary: in which the most handsome, athletic, and popular senior is forced to share an apartment with james rodriguez. based on the netflix show good morning call.





	1. Chapter 1

James sighed as he folded his last shirt and gently set it into the big brown box that was labeled in big capital letters ‘CLOTHES’. He picked himself off his knees and walked across the empty, hollow room and carefully pulled the gray curtains of the single window in the room. The view wasn’t anything extraordinary, just the gray sidewalk and the black road and led to the front of the house. But it was the first thing James did when he moved to Madrid 4 years ago, and he thought it would only be proper if it was his last. As he watched a boy and his dog walk across the sidewalk, taking no notice of the big movers truck parked in their driveway, it all seemed surreal to him that was actually going to live on his own. James realized he would be responsible for cooking, cleaning, and studying on his own. No mom to cook his dinner, no Juana to clean his room, and no stepdad to help him study for his tests- he would be all alone.

 

His parents got a job offer back in Colombia, with a higher pay and better bonuses. James was extremely happy for them, of course, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving his current school, let alone continent, at the start of his junior year. He had created a life for himself in Madrid, and he would hate to throw away something that isn’t even broken. So he managed to convince his parents that he was old enough to fend for himself, that it would be a good experience. His mom wasn't easily convinced, thinking it was just an excuse to go out and party every night without repercussion. It took only a few days to convince his stepdad, however. He thought it would be a good idea and learning experience for James to live in the real world, a world without the coddling of his parents. They managed to find James a nice apartment close to his school for almost nothing. He was surprised to see such a nice place for such low rent, he couldn’t pass it down. James was lucky enough to already have a job at the local café with his best friend, Neymar, and his parents would give him a livable sum of money every month. James couldn’t be more excited, but at the same time, also more terrified.

“James, you ready?” The voice of his sister broke him away from his thoughts and James jumped away from the window in surprise.

“Uh, yeah almost!” He shouted back. James quickly stuffed the last of his clothes into the box and messily taped it shut. He carried it downstairs to the empty living room where his family was waiting.

“Finally, you’re done,” His mom rolled his eyes playfully at him and his stepdad came and took the box from his hands.

“How come James gets to live alone and I can’t?” Juana pouted at their mom.

“Because I’m 16 and you’re like, not,” James ruffled his younger sister’s hair for, what may be, the last time in a while. Juana swatted his hand away and huffed, “I can live with you,” she just got a sarcastic chuckle from the eldest in response. James broke away from his mom and sister to get one last look at the last house his would share with his family. He admitted he was a sentimentalist, but James didn’t particularly mind and walked around the house for one last time.

Finally, his stepdad popped back into the house and found James. He wrapped an arm around James’s shoulders and laughed, “Everything’s in the car, you ready to get out of here?” James just nodded.

The ride to the apartment was short and uneventful, with James staring out the window for most of the ride. He got a text from Neymar asking if he needed help unpacking since he only lived a couple of miles away from the apartment complex. James agreed and soon the group of four arrived at the complex. His parents and Juana helped unload boxes and small furniture from the car. After everything, not that there was much, was unloaded, James let them go home as they would have a long couple days and needed rest. Of course, there were tears shed from his mom, hugs from Juana, and he lost how many times his back was patted from his stepdad. It eventually all came to an end and the three had to leave.

Neymar and all his loud excitement soon arrived.

“I can’t believe you’re actually gonna live alone, bro!” was the first thing that came out of Neymar’s mouth when he loudly barged in the door.

James was in the middle of unboxing his clothes in the room he designated as his when he heard his friend’s booming voice. He walked out of his room to see Neymar curiously looking around the apartment. It was somewhat like a studio apartment in the sense that it was very open and there were no long halls. There were 2 rooms next to each other on one wall of the apartment and there was a small hall that led into the bathroom. Adjacent to the rooms was the living room and kitchen. It was a very nice place, James had to admit.

“Ever heard of, I don’t know, knocking?” James rolled his eyes at Neymar but joined him in the exploring.

“Maybe this place can get you a girl,” Neymar nudged the older boy.

“Hmm, doubt it, my face would still be the same,” James shrugged and the two entered his room and started unpacking the boxes.

“So what’re you gonna do with the other room?”

“I’ll probably just buy a cheap desk and use it as a study room or something,”

“Or...you could like, lend it to me?” Neymar tried to give James his best puppy dog eyes, but the older just shoved his face away.

“As if,” he scoffed. Neymar just shot him an exaggerated rejected look.

Eventually, the two managed to unpack all the boxes and unwrap all the furniture while listening to one of Neymar’s favorite songs on repeat for the 2 hours it took. Afterwards, the two just hung out, ordered pizza, talked about girls, and played video games like normal. But time went on and it started to get dark and Neymar had to leave. The two exchanged goodbyes and James looked out the window to make sure Neymar got to his car safely.

After he saw Ney’s busted up Nissan drive away, the now alone James quickly threw the leftover pizza in the refrigerator and went to his room. He plopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. The house was silent, something James was not used to, but was definitely not opposed to. He was exhausted and felt himself slowly drift into the comfort of sleep.

The loud click of the door being opened echoed throughout the house and woke James up from his tired daze. _Ney must’ve forgotten something_ he thought, slightly annoyed. He slowly got up from his bed and stumbled to the door. He pulled it open, ready to see Neymar scavenging the place, looking for his Bluetooth or something.

If James was holding something, he would’ve dropped it instantly. Standing at the door was, no, not Neymar, but someone, in James’s opinion, much worse. He could see the eyes of Cristiano Ronaldo widen as the two finally made eye contact. James didn’t know what to think, what _should_ he think. Why of all people: Neymar, his mom, the movers, the mailman, robbers, _Jesus_ _himself_ , _why_ was Cristiano Ronaldo in his apartment, standing there like he owned the place? James managed to walk to the door but kept his distance from Cristiano.

“Um...why are you here?” James cautiously asked the most popular guy at school. Cristiano Ronaldo was not just the most popular guy at school, but maybe all of Madrid. All the girls wanted him, all the guys wanted to _be_ him, and all the teachers adored him. He was the captain of the football team for all four years and got good grades. He basically already had his future planned out with becoming a professional footballer and marrying his girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez or some other model in the future. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, James would’ve been happy for him if only he wasn’t the literal definition of a dick.

Cristiano looked down at the younger and rolled his eyes like just breathing the same air as James was too much to handle, “Um...because I live here?” He imitated James’s tone and raised his eyebrows as if talking to a 5-year-old. It made James’s blood boil.

“I think the real question is how could _you_ be here? I mean, judging by, well, _you_ , can you even afford this place?” Cristiano pushed by James, making room for his movers to come in and set boxes down.

“Don’t mind, uh, him,” Cristiano pointed to where he wanted the boxes to go, and the movers complied. James didn’t have the energy to argue, but wouldn’t allow himself to let Cristiano treat him like that, “I have a name,” he pointed out bluntly.

James was so distracted by the senior’s presence that he didn’t take a second to even process the ‘I live here’.

Cristiano took off his black Nike jacket and slipped off his equally black and equally Nike shoes, “Honestly, I don’t really care just please get out of my apartment,” and turned his back on James to guide the movers where to put his precious boxes. _I’ve had too long of a day for this_ James thought. He took a deep breath and rummaged through his jeans pocket until he found the metal key.

“I live here too. 310. I used this key to open that lock,” he pointed to the door know, “to get into this room, 310, which it coincidently says on the key that I used to get into _my,_ not yours, _my_ apartment!” James thought of shoving the key through Cristiano’s perfectly shaped eyes but instead settled on shoving it in the senior’s face when he slowly turned around to face James.  

 

When he finally got a good look at the key, James swore his face froze and the calm, ever cool, perfectly sculpted face of Cristiano had a look of fear. Cristiano quickly whipped out his key and grabbed James’s out of his hand, getting an annoyed huff from the junior. He studied the two keys for a couple of seconds before shaking his head repeatedly, as if he didn’t believe what he saw.

 

“They’re the exact same key,” he stuttered and James internally groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day the two went to see the landlady about their surprise situation. It turned out James and Cristiano were the victims of a scam and the apartment was so cheap because the rent had been split in half by the realtor.  

 

“I think I should live here,” Cristiano more or less demanded when the pair returned from seeing the landlady about their situation. James wanted to ignore him and start heading towards his room, but instead took a deep breath and turned to face the Portuguese.

 

“Well, because I need a place to live,” Cristiano shrugged, “and I think I should have the choice of who stays here because I’m older and, well, more...well known.”

 

James watched from the living room as Cristiano headed into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took out his pizza from the other night.

 

“My family’s in Colombia. I need this place or I’m kind of fucked,” James protested.

 

Cristiano took a piece of pizza and placed it on a paper plate, and shrugged again, “Not my problem,” he answered before stuffing the pizza in the microwave. James wanted to stuff his shiny head in the microwave.

 

“Why can’t you just live with your parents?” He forcibly asked. Cristiano lowered his eyes like he was reflecting over something, he then shook his head as if denying it and glared at James,

 

“Mind your own fucking business.”

 

James was so tempted to just pack up and move but forced himself not to let Cristiano win. The microwave beeped three times and Cristiano pulled the hot pizza out. He started towards the living room couch, which was currently occupied by James’s ass, but decided against it and headed towards his room, slamming the door behind him.

 

James put his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. He had no idea what to do. Cristiano was too stubborn to let him live in the apartment and James refused to see Cristiano’s iconic smug smirk of glory. After a few seconds, the Colombian came to a sudden realization and groaned out loud. He let his back hit the couch and let himself close his eyes for a few seconds, not ready for what he was about to do. He slowly pulled himself off of the couch and dragged his legs to Cristiano’s room door. He knocked, well, banged, on the door until the senior opened it with a scowl on his face, “What?” he asked.

 

Having never stood that close to Cristiano, James never realized how tall he was until then. He hated to admit it, but the junior had to look up to the older, “We should share the apartment.”

 

“Are you fucking crazy?” Cristiano was about to close the door, he looked almost disgusted at the Colombian, but James put a hand on the doorknob, trying to stop Cristiano from closing it, although fully knowing Cristiano could pull it shut whenever he wanted to.

 

“If one of us leave, the other would have to pay full rent. And I doubt you have a good enough job to be able to afford this place all by yourself,” James pointed out.

 

He only expected Cristiano to scoff at him and slam the door, complaining about how his pizza got cold, but instead the Portuguese looked thoughtfully at James for what he guessed to be a minute, taking James’s words in carefully before muttering, “Ok, yeah, whatever,” then slammed the door and complained about how his pizza got cold. James smiled to himself in victory. It was still a lose-lose situation, but it was a victory nonetheless. James victoriously marched to his room next door, ready to take a victory nap.

 

The harsh banging on the door was what pulled James back to the real world. He groaned and rolled over to grab his phone. It was about 2:30 with five missed calls from Neymar and two from his mom.

 

“Hey! Open the door the door, I have things to talk to you about!” He heard Cristiano’s voice on the other side of the door and groaned even louder- they were going to live together. He groggily got up from the bed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to look presentable for the great Cristiano Ronaldo. He slowly opened the door and the first thing he saw was Cristiano’s smirk, “You look like someone just ran over you, more than usual, anyway,” the taller snickered. James didn’t respond, knowing that if they would live together, he’d just have to get used to it. He followed Cristiano into the living room where a white paper and pen lay on the coffee table. The two sat a decent distance away from each other, and James picked up the paper, at the top, it read: ‘Roommate Rules for Cristiano and His Roommate’ in scribbled handwriting. James rolled his eyes at the ‘His Roommate’, realizing Cristiano didn’t even know his name.

 

“Give me a pen,” He more or less demanded. Cristiano raised his eyebrows in shock that someone would demand something from him, but complied anyway, handing James the pen on the table. James, without looking at the rest of the paper, scribbled out ‘His Roommate’ and replaced it with ‘James’. He set the pen down then proceeded to read the rest of the rules.

 

 

  * _Do not bring anyone else into the apartment._


  * _Do not tell anyone else of the situation._


  * _Do not go into my room_


  * _Do not attempt to talk, look, or even think of me at school._


  * _Do not eat my food!_



 

 

“These seem more like demands than rules,” James muttered and lowered the paper.

 

Cristiano snatched the paper from James’s hands and ran through it quickly.

 

“Your name’s James?” Cristiano raised his eyebrows. James nodded.

 

“Huh, Neymar talks a lot about you,” Cristiano and Neymar were on the same football team, Cristiano the captain, of course. Neymar tried to get James, even tried to persuade him with money, to try out for the football team. James refused no matter how much Neymar offered.

 

“If I can’t bring anyone, you can’t either,” James thought it was ridiculous how big his ego was and how low his self-esteem must be if he didn’t want anyone to know they lived together. Cristiano made a sound of protest and went on to say how he had a girlfriend and James didn’t, so he should be allowed to bring others.

 

“You can bring Georgina if I can bring Neymar,”.

 

Cristiano seemed to think about it for a second before shrugging his shoulders and muttering an annoyed, “Whatever,”. _Victory 2.0._

 

James took the paper back from Cristiano, again to his surprise, and began to correct the rules so they were more fair and even.

 

He added to the first rule, Exception: Georgina and Ney. He also added one more rule,

 

  * _Rules go both ways._



 

The younger set the paper back on the table for Cristiano to see. He rolled his eyes at the latest rule from James but nodded his head in approval nonetheless. The pair signed the paper and Cristiano hung it on the refrigerator.

  
Living with Cristiano Ronaldo would be tough, demanding, and painful among many other things. He would have to deal with Cristiano’s annoying ego and at the same time make a life for himself and his future. He didn’t know how long their situation would last, but he knew every second wouldn’t be easy. But, if James was being honest with himself, he couldn’t be more excited to share an apartment with the great  _Cristiano Ronaldo_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry this is so bad, i just really wanted to get this out and really just rushed on the whole thing :/

**Author's Note:**

> the crismes tag is dry asf,, also probably not gonna finish neymes bc i succ at chapter fics sorry. also i have no idea what im gonna do w this so sorry again if i never update :(


End file.
